THE director of a wedding venue near Brecon has said his staff were “exemplary” in how they helped a toddler who fell and cracked her head open.

Olivia Ricketts-Devereux was at a wedding at Peterstone Court when she tripped and hit her head on a door frame.

The 18-month-old, from Hereford, received 10 stitches for the head wound, just above her right eyebrow and towards the centre of her forehead, which included two internal stitches and eight external.

Glyn Bridgeman, one of the Llanhamlach venue’s directors, said it had happened at a “difficult time” during a break in the meal so all the staff were occupied at the time.

He said: “As soon as our staff were made aware, they were on it for what could be done.

“We had one member of staff who was relaying instructions from the ambulance service over the phone telling them to use paper towels to apply pressure to the wound to stem the bleeding. There was a lot of blood and the little girl was crying a lot, which made it look a lot worse than it was.”

Olivia’s parents contacted the Brecon & Radnor Express, saying that they felt the 12-bedroom hotel’s first aid provisions were not adequate and they had not received any help from staff, in particular the management.

However as the hotel is considered to be a low-risk venue regarding health and safety, they are not required to keep a first aider on site at all times.

Mr Bridgeman said: “We’ve fulfilled all of our legal requirements.

“We have three trained first aiders, it’s just none of them happened to be on the site at the time.”

The director said he was confident they had everything required of them in their first aid kit and they had done everything that was asked of them by medical advisers over the phone.

He said: “Obviously I’m devastated it happened, bless her, but I’m very happy with how our staff coped with it – they were exemplary. When I spoke to our insurers they said ‘children do fall’ and I’m confident our staff did everything they could.

“If there was a legal requirement to have something here, we’d have it.”

However Olivia’s dad Rory Ricketts-Devereux strongly criticised the hotel’s reaction to Olivia’s injury on what he said was a terrible day.

He said: “It was the worst day of my life to be honest – I’m a first aider on a construction site, and it’s the worst I’ve ever seen. It bled profusely for 15 minutes.

“We’ve got no problem with her falling because that’s what children do.”

Mr Ricketts-Devereux, who was at the wedding with Olivia’s mum 23-year-old Sophie Payne, said he had spent five minutes asking the staff for a first aid kit before he was given one.

The 25-year-old said: “In the kit we were given, all they had was two head bandages and some sterile wipes.

“For a hotel which holds events for hundreds of people, I think it’s appalling. Even when we got home, I got my first aid kit out the back of the car and it was miles better than their’s.”

Following the accident, Mr Ricketts-Devereux and Olivia were taken into the back area of the hotel.

Sandra Payne, one of Olivia’s relatives who is also a trained nurse on a cancer ward, helped Mr Ricketts-Devereux to keep pressure on the wound with paper towels.

“Even before my partner’s auntie stepped in, no first aid was offered.

“Being in a place that serves food, you’d have thought they’d have plastic gloves, but no gloves were offered which increases the risk of infection because in that situation, Sandra didn’t even have the chance to wash her hands.”

Mr Rickets-Devereux also claimed the manager, who was working at the time of the accident did not try to help.

He said the manager had disappeared into another room until the paramedics arrived and the other staff had seemed unsure of how to help.

“The waitresses were all young girls, and they were trying to help but they had no knowledge so they were offering wet tissues”.

He said: “They tried to help, but the manager failed to do anything – there should have been a trained first aider. They should also have a policy of what to do if there is an injury.

“The manager did try to make me fill out an accident report form as we were walking to the ambulance and it felt like that was his priority. I think it completely ruined the wedding to be honest. Even the bride and groom – my partner’s cousin Kayleigh (Meredith) and now husband Dominic (Hayman) – were there with us trying to help.”

The manager, who was shocked by the complaint, said he had been outside making sure the ambulance could get to the venue without being blocked by other vehicles.

The ambulance arrived at the hotel 15 minutes after it was called at 6.20pm and took Olivia with her mum to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, with Mr Rickets-Devereux following in his car.

After she was patched up, the toddler received stitches while under a general anaesthetic at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport the next day.